The City of Marietta will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for Phase 1 of the Rottenwood Creek Trail on Friday, September 18 at 10:30 a.m. at the Aviation Sports Complex, located at 455 Aviation Road. The ceremony marks the formal start of construction on a three-mile trail segment that city officials describe as a roughly $17 million investment in Marietta’s growing trail system.
The event was originally planned for June 4 near Alumni Drive on the Kennesaw State University-Marietta campus, but the city postponed it on June 2 due to unforeseen circumstances before resetting the ceremony for September at the Aviation Sports Complex, according to the City of Marietta, Ga., Government. Phase 1 will run from Alumni Drive east to Franklin Gateway at the Franklin Gateway Sports Complex, with city council members, staff, and residents expected to attend the September ceremony.
A Multi-Year Build Through Active Terrain
Construction won’t wrap up quickly. Bid specifications for Phase 1 give the contractor up to 1,095 calendar days — three full years — to finish the three-mile segment, meaning the project could stretch to 2029 before it’s fully built out, according to Richie Torrance. The route cuts through active parkland and near the KSU-Marietta campus, and environmental and site design plans show construction will disturb roughly 4.01 acres within Wildwood Park.
That footprint requires repaving a gravel parking lot, adding two new parking lots, building a new access road, and installing two stormwater detention ponds, per the city’s own planning documents. The scope of work triggered federal review under USDOT Section 4(f) rules governing impacts to parkland, the same notice indicates.
Years of Funding and Planning Behind the Groundbreaking
Phase 1’s roots trace back a decade. The Atlanta Regional Commission awarded $400,000 in Livable Centers Initiative transportation funding to support early engineering work on the project in 2016, illustrating the kind of long-range regional planning that underpins the trail. In 2021, the Marietta City Council passed a resolution seeking $1.5 million in state grant funding from the Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Program for construction, committing a 25.1 percent local match of $376,500…